I believe people should have the right to bear firearms. Pro believes they should be banned. The rules of this debate are:

1: The BoP is shared.
2: I will waive the 1st round and Pro will waive the last round. They must signify this in the round. Violation is an automatic loss of the conduct point.
3: A forfeit is an automatic loss unless apologized for in the comments.

Guns provide protection against criminals and the potential of a tyrannical government.

Guns also reduce homicide. Whenever an area bans guns, law abiding citizens turn in their guns but criminals still hang on to their guns. Can you imagine what happens if a criminal is armed and a law abiding citizen(LAC) isn't? The LAC gets robbed or shot or both. If they try to call the police, they are shot. DC placed huge restrictions on guns in 1976 and their homicide rate stayed constant at best and skyrocketed at worse (https://illinoisreview.typepad.com/.a/6a00d834515c5469e2015392131038970b-800wi). This means that gun control does nothing to stop homicide and may even increase homicide rates. When they repealed their tough gun laws, the homicide rate fell.

Guns are also useful in hunting, which can prevent some families from starving.